"
"No, begad, we've fixed you--and a man who's fixed to a seat in
Parliament, and a pretty girl, with a couple of thousand a year, is
fixed to no bad thing, let me tell you," said the old man.
"Great Heavens, sir!" said Arthur; "are you blind? Can't you see?"
"See what, young gentleman?" asked the other.
"See, that rather than trade upon this secret of Amory's," Arthur
cried out, "I would go and join my father-in-law at the hulks! See,
that rather than take a seat in Parliament as a bribe from Clavering
for silence, I would take the spoons off the table! See, that you have
given me a felon's daughter for a wife; doomed me to poverty and
shame; cursed my career when it might have been--when it might have
been so different but for you! Don't you see that we have been playing
a guilty game, and have been over-reached; that in offering to marry
this poor girl, for the sake of her money, and the advancement she
would bring, I was degrading myself, and prostituting my honor?"
"What in Heaven's name do you mean, sir?" cried the old man.
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